


Pretense

by valda



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Cat Theft, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 07:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6321181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The master of the Knights of Ren goes out on a limb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pi_meson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pi_meson/gifts).



> This was written for a Tumblr prompt. pi-meson asked: "what if Kylo kidnapped Millicent?"

“Shhhhhh. _No_. _Stop that_. Be _quiet_.”

The muffled voice of Kylo Ren issued forth from around the corner, punctuated by muted scuffling sounds. His deep voice was obviously louder than he meant it to be; the Force-user had so little understanding of restraint, of discipline, or even simply of how much _space_ he took up. The man was thick and wide and rangy, all arms and legs and huge hands, but his ludicrously dominating presence existed beyond these physical traits. There was something else—a _pressure_ —that existed when Kylo Ren stepped into a room, a suffocating authority that came completely naturally to him…and which, based on his ridiculous grandstanding in front of the men, he seemed utterly unaware of.

It was the type of dignity that General Hux had spent years honing, and to see it wasted on a ruddy _infant_ was more than a little infuriating.

In any event, the knight clearly did not want to be discovered, which meant he was doing something that was going to upset the ordered flow of Hux’s evening. The general paused briefly to pinch the bridge of his nose and draw a few slow breaths, then straightened and strode around the corner….

…to find that Ren was standing at the entrance to Hux’s own rooms.

“Ren,” Hux snapped, “what are you—”

He was interrupted by a long feline yowl.

Ren’s back was to Hux, but the general easily spotted the sudden tensing of the knight’s shoulders. After a long moment, during which Hux stared at Ren and Ren failed to turn around or acknowledge him in any way, the plaintive meow sounded again.

“ _Ren_ ,” Hux finally ground out. “That’s my _cat_.”

At this Ren spun slowly in place, hunched over the squirming mass of ginger fur in his arms like a guilty hound. He was maskless, as he’d been since Starkiller, and his hood had fallen back from the dark waves of his hair. His face, scarred diagonally from the scavenger’s blade, sported a fresh set of injuries: four deep scratches across his cheek, just above the sharp cut of his jaw.

The knight’s lips were flushed, and trembling slightly. Hux dragged his gaze to Ren’s eyes, which at the moment were wide and watery, enhancing their rich darkness. Hux dismissed his unnecessary observations and sucked in a breath.

“What. Business. Do. You. Have. Removing. My Cat. From. My Quarters.” Hux heard his voice rising in both pitch and volume but was unable to do anything about it, the majority of his willpower being used to keep his arms stiff at his sides. “ _None_ , that’s what,” he concluded, crossing the remaining distance between them in three swift steps. “Give. Me. My. _Cat_.”

Ren blinked at him, looking as though he was on the verge of tears, and Hux mourned the loss of the mask. At least with his face hidden, the knight could sometimes manage to look the part of Snoke’s apprentice.

“I–I wanted,” Ren began, his deep voice faltering, but then he stopped and looked away.

Hux was pleased to see that Millicent was still fighting Ren’s grasp, albeit unsuccessfully. He held out his arms. “Let her go, _now_.”

Ren relaxed his arms with obvious reluctance, and Millicent leapt out of them, springboarding off Hux’s forearm to drape herself around his shoulders. Hux reached up and scratched along her jaw. “Good girl,” he said softly. Then he turned a stare back to Ren and his voice went hard once more. “I don’t even think I want an explanation for this foul intrusion into my privacy, Ren. It had best not happen again.”

“Please,” Ren said in a rush. “Let me…do something for you.”

Hux blinked. “What.”

“I wanted—to hold her, just for a little while. I can pay you back. Whatever you want.”

Hux let out a barking laugh. “ _Please_ ,” he scoffed. “You simpering child.” Ren raised his eyes, the pallid skin of his cheeks going rapidly pink. “Don’t give me that doe-eyed look,” Hux sneered. “Maybe it works on Snoke, I don’t know the nature of your _relationship_ , but I am not so easily swayed.”

Ren’s hands balled into fists and he lowered his gaze. “Anything,” he said quietly. “I can do things. With the Force.”

Hux shook his head, flummoxed. “On your knees,” he said, because Ren was being docile rather than demanding, and that was the first thing to come to mind that might snap him out of it.

But the knight dropped to the floor, head bowed and fists coming to rest atop his thighs.

Hux stared at him.

“Whatever you want, General,” Ren said. “You can tell me to do whatever you want.”

“Right now?”

“Tonight. Until morning.”

Hux felt his own face going hot. It was unclear how exactly Ren’s abduction of his cat had led to an offer like this. What did Ren mean, _anything_?

“I mean anything,” Ren said, and he looked up again. His lips quirked into an odd, crooked smile that Hux had never seen before.

Hux’s hand stilled in Millicent’s fur. He let out a slow breath. “On your feet,” he said, voice coming out in a rasp.

Ren rose in one fluid motion. “You…you like this idea, General,” he said. It was the sort of statement he normally would have made confidently. It was the sort of statement he made after leafing through someone’s mind. But now, Ren did not sound assured. He did not seem to believe he knew how Hux would react.

Even if he did know how Hux was currently feeling.

The body, the hands, the lips, the eyes…these observations _were_ inconsequential, pointless, absurd. And Hux had pushed them away each time he’d made them. But they were always there, flitting at the edge of his consciousness, irritating him the way everything Ren did irritated him.

He leaned in and took a fistful of Ren’s thick, dark hair, tugging the knight’s head back. “Anything,” he said.

“Anything,” Ren confirmed again, breath hitching.

Hux tightened his fist briefly, then let go. He slapped the wall panel and the door to his quarters slid open with a quiet _swish_.

“By all means, Ren,” he said, forcing a tremor out of his voice, “do come in.”


End file.
